Evening all. And we start tonight with an apology. In my review of Friday's OC, I mistakenly credited Luke Kelly of the Inquisitors with having won UC with Manchester; turns out the Luke Kelly of that team was a completely different gentleman who just looked a bit similar. My apologies to both Mr Kellys, and my thanks to Julia Hobbs for pulling me up on this on Twitter. Now, on with tonight.
Sheffield Hallam University was formerly Sheffield Polytechnic, becoming a university in 1992. Alumni include Nick Park of Wallace & Gromit fame, Howard Wilkinson of football fame and Andy Akinwolere of Blue Peter fame. It has sent a team to UC once before, in 2000-01, who reached the QFs. This year's foursome were:
Richard Simkins, from Sheffield, studying English
Alex Crombie, from Hedon in East Yorkshire, studying Education
Captain: Chris Doyle, from Wigan, studying English
James Hanson, from Rotherham, studying History
Newcastle University is also reasonable recent by standards, founded in 1963. Alumni include British institution Rowan Atkinson, music man Bryan Ferry and some chap called Tim Farron, whoever he was. It has regularly sent teams to UC, last appearing two series ago and reaching the QF play off stage. This year's quartet were:
Jack Reynard, from Leeds, studying Medicine
Molly Nielsen, from London, studying Medicine
Captain: Jonathan Noble, from Newcastle, studying for a PGCE
Adam Lowery, from Sunderland, studying Chemistry
Off we set again then, and not the best start to the night, with Newcastle losing five and Sheffield Hallam failing to take possession. The second starter was dropped too, before Miss Nielsen finally broke the duck on the third; Newcastle proceeded to make up for the slow start by taking all three bonuses on Russian composers' first symphonies. Another starter was dropped, with Sheffield Hallam losing five; Mr Crombie made up for that though by taking the next starter, though his side got nothing from the bonuses on Orwell's 1984. Mr Noble was next up for Newcastle, and his side took two bonuses on the work of John Napier. The first picture round, on graphs showing how often politicians were looked up on Google, went to Sheffield Hallam, who, again, got nothing from what was a rather tricky round, which left them trailing 40-15.
Another five points were lost, this time by Sheffield Hallam, and again Newcastle failed to pick up, and a second starter in a row was then dropped again. Miss Nielsen once again took it on herself to stop the rot, and her side took two of the resulting bonuses. Miss Nielsen then took a second starter in a row, which unlocked a tricky bonus set on the duration of 'seasons' on other planets, of which the Tynesiders took one.
Neither side indentified Marvin Gaye for the music starter, though, like myself, they probably did recognise it as the song Robin Thicke was accused of ripping off with 'Blurred Lines'; the bonuses, on other music plagiarism cases, went to Newcastle, who got nothing from another complex bonus set, leaving their lead at 85-10. The works of Umberto Eco provided Newcastle's next bonus set, following another starter from Miss Nielsen; two came this time. Mr Doyle finally broke Sheffield Hallam back into the match, but another tricky bonus set, on melting points of metals, provided them with no correct answers again. Another starter was dropped, Mr Noble took the next, all three bonuses followed, and that was game over I'm afraid.
The second picture round, on paintings used for, or as the inspiration for, album covers, went to Newcastle, who took just the one bonus this time, which left their lead at 145-20. Mr Simkins took another starter for Sheffield Hallam, but, once again, they got nothing from the bonuses; at this point, I genuinely feared for them that they'd become the first side (that I know of) to end the match having answered no bonuses correctly.
Newcastle, by contrast, seemed to be doing decently on the bonuses when they got them; Mr Noble took the next starter, and bonuses on novels and the prime ministers in office when they were first published gave them a full house. Another starter was dropped, Mr Crombie took the next, but, alas, there was no time for any bonuses. At the gong, Newcastle won 170-40.
Another rather low scoring match, probably due to some unusually hard questions for the first round. Unlucky Sheffield Hallam, for whom things just didn't fall tonight, but who came across well and must be a decent team to have made it on the show in the first place, so thanks for taking part. Well done Newcastle though on a not bad first performance, and best of luck in the next round!
The stats: Miss Nielsen was the best buzzer of the night with five starters, while Mr Crombie was best for Sheffield Hallam with three. On the bonuses, Sheffield Hallam, alas, converted 0 out of 12, which I think might be an unfortunate first for the show (plus two penalties as well), while Newcastle, by contrast, managed an OK 17 out of 27 (with one penalty).
Next week's match: Leicester vs Fitzwilliam College Cambridge
Only Connect, meanwhile, will be carrying on on Sunday nights for the foreseeable future, until the show returns to Monday, in which case I'll, hopefully, be able to return to doing it on Tuesday nights.
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